The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is an ongoing survey of Rhode Islanders who have recently had a baby. PRAMS asks questions about the mother's experiences before, during, and after her pregnancy. New mothers who are chosen to participate are selected randomly by a computer program from the state birth certificate registry. Every new mother who completes the PRAMS survey helps RIDOH and its partners as we work to improve the health and well-being of Rhode Island women and babies. No parent or infant can be identified from reports created using PRAMS.
“Not sure why I wrote the whole story down but thank you if you read it all. After my experience I want to do all that I can for mamas and babies who are going through what I did or worse. I'm glad I received this survey. Thank you for taking the time to read.”
- a new mother in Rhode Island
Your answers are important to us! We use all the answers we get back from new mothers to understand how we can help new mothers.
Every month, we do a random selection of Rhode Island women who recently had a baby. We want to make sure that we hear from new mothers from all different backgrounds and we want to hear about all kinds of experiences. The survey is available in English and Spanish. All of the answers you give are combined with answers from hundreds of other women so we can look at completely anonymous patterns to see where RI parents may need some help.
Do you have more questions about the survey you were sent? Call the Department of Health Information Line at 401-222-5960. Our staff speaks English and Spanish. You can also email the PRAMS program manager at Cheyenne.Seymour@health.ri.gov.
We love answering your questions! Contact us if you’re curious about anything like:
- How we make sure your answers are kept totally anonymous
- How we analyze the data
- How to understand the numbers on this page
Below are some examples of what we learn from PRAMS and how we use it:
Change over time
This section provides data on trends over time for some of the issues that are important to RDOH programs. (If you want to see data about a different issue over time, email the PRAMS program manager at Cheyenne.Seymour@health.ri.gov.)
Changes over time in reproductive health and the reproductive decisions people make can be influenced by things like cultural shifts (for example, social media influences) or political developments (for example, the Affordable Care Act of 2014 gave more adults access to preventive care).
This section shows examples of key findings about Rhode Islanders who had babies 2021-2023. (Since the survey methodology can result in minor fluctuations from year to year, combining years of data increases the sample size for groups with smaller numbers of people in Rhode Island and shows more reliable results.)
Rhode Island does better than a lot of other states when it comes to the care and well-being of pregnant women and new mothers, but the data below shows areas we would still like to improve. People who use PRAMS data often compare groups of people to see if the risk for an outcome of concern is equally distributed or if it is higher in some groups than others. In America, health access and outcomes are often related to access to social and economic resources.
If you want to see any data not shown below, email the program manager at Cheyenne.Seymour@health.ri.gov.
Working with the PRAMS data file requires experience in analysis with survey weights and access to appropriate software. If you do not have these resources but are looking for something not available above, the PRAMS program can provide specific data summaries upon request. Please email the program manager at Cheyenne.Seymour@health.ri.gov with a description of your data needs and what you want to use it for.
Every few years, PRAMS changes the survey instrument to reflecting emerging concerns. These changes are indicated by a new Phase number (Phase 8 encompassed 2016-2022, and Phase 9 began with revisions implemented in 2023). Researchers should be aware of atypical changes to the survey administration beginning in early 2025 that affect some data availability.